Calculate the Rotation of the Sun

In this activity students will be looking at and analysing real sunspot data from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) in order to estimate the rotational period of the Sun (i.e. how long is a solar ‘day’?).

Resources Needed:

• SDO data page: https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/aiahmi/
• A ruler
• A scientific calculator or protractor (a protractor will be less accurate).